Beth Fletcher

Beth Fletcher is a fantastical filmmaker searching out new projects that will amuse and entertain a greater audience. She has written, directed and produced a slew of different projects which have been featured in festivals all over the world including the Toronto International Film Festival, Short of the Week, and Riverrun International Film Festival. She was a Horizon Award Semi-Finalist as well as a finalist in Series Fest’s Women in Film Initiative.

Her love of magical realism comes through brightly in her narrative shorts and grasp on something beyond the surface in her documentaries.

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Alter Films

COME BE CREEPY WITH US

Q & A

Name a Horror character you relate to on a spiritual/personal level?

I’d have to say Ellen Ripley. You know, I didn’t exactly sign up for this, but now that I’m here I’m going to kick ass. That’s definitely my mentality when it needs to be. Also, I hope that if I were in that situation I’d be just as much of a hot badass.

You’ve gotta go through some bad ideas to get to the good ones. Tell us one of your bad ideas. How do you get past the bad ones to find your spark?

Oh Jeez, making an indie film about a bad relationship. Worst idea I’ve had. The bad ideas usually don’t make it to the screen but when they do they remind me to stick with what I’m good at. I like making bold, over the top projects and when I try to “play it safe” I don’t enjoy myself as much and it shows in the final work.

Do you consider yourself part of a horror community?

Before making Creepy I would have said no, but after releasing something in the genre definitely! The horror community at large is so friendly and inviting there’s no escaping the wonderful people within it. I know so much more about horror and have so many different types of horror filmmakers, couples, magazines, etc on my social media feeds that I get to see and experience new and old horror wonders.

When you’re building the world of your film, where do you look for inspiration?

I look to the real world and my catalogue of dreams. I think a big part of my filmmaking goals are to make reality fantastical and where better to look than real places I have experience? Bringing the off-putting and strange moments from my dreams, and the dreams of others into the realistic world takes things to a place that people understand and recognize but sets them apart from your typical film-scape.

What would you do if you woke up inside of your film?

I would love to find out how Bonnie travels through the pipes.

Who would be on your ultimate horror villain squad?

Frank-N-Ferter, The Shark from Jaws, Norman Bates. I think we’d have a good time.

Lightning round: Freddy or Jason? Stephen King or H.P. Lovecraft? Practical or CGI? Post Apocalypse or Pre Apocalypse?

Freddy H.P. Lovecraft Practical!! Always! Post, Pre is just too stressful. And in post we get worlds like that of Turbo Kid.

How do you go about creating the props and sets for your film? How do you create objects that are relatable but unfamiliar?

I’m lucky enough to have had great prop masters and vfx designers in the past, and the best way I’ve found to work with them is to trust their ideas while helping guide them to fit in the world I’m building for the film. Relatable but unfamiliar is just a matter of taking things that are normal or expected and putting them where they shouldn’t be. The swamp in an apartment. Objects that should be a different size, or even mixing basics to create something new, so people go “I recognize that but I’m not sure why”.

What scares you, and does it inspire your storytelling?

Reality! No, but really, the things that scare me most are usually the things that have happened or could happen to people. That’s why I have such a hard time watching horror films that are set in reality. The Babadook? I’d love to watch it, but that lady is just minding her own business at home when it comes, and that’s too much for me.

And finally, Ghostface would like to know ‘What’s your favourite scary movie?’

It Follows. So tense, so smart, so simple. It’s the perfect mixture of unsettling and thought inducing.